


let's play pretend (it feels too real)

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Series: lou's mcu kink bingo [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 11:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: Stranded in the wake of the Halan civil war, Kasius and Sinara have no choice but to assume false identities.





	let's play pretend (it feels too real)

**Author's Note:**

> for the square "Pretend Marriage"

The sound of the door falling shut jerked them apart.

Sinara stopped the soldier not ten yards down the hallway, silver orbs smashing through his chest. She stepped over him to pick up the communicator that had clattered to the floor, sliding further along.

She checked the messages and cursed. She’d expected as much, really, but had hoped he hadn’t had time to send the message.

Finding them standing over Faulnak’s body would have been bad enough by itself, but finding them there too wrapped up in each other to even notice – well, the damage was done.

“He notified your father,”Sinara said as she returned to Kasius, handing him the communicator.

He paled visibly, a stark contrast to the blood on his face.“So now what?”

“And here I thought you were the brains of this operation,”Sinara deadpanned. She shrugged.“We could go on the run. Can’t be much worse than exile.”

“We do have the Lady Basha’s payment for our last Inhuman,”Kasius said, scowling at the watchman’s communicator.“That would easily tide us over for a while, I suppose.”

“If we manage to liquidate it,”Sinara pointed out. With the digital account easily traced to Kasius, they could just as well go and meet his father face on to be executed.

“Yes, of course. As long as we can make it to Seren -”

He broke off at the sound of an incoming message, looking to Sinara rather than at the communicator in his hand, mild horror on his face.“That was mine.”

Sinara watched as he pulled his own communicator from his pocket, as he read the message, as his expression morphed from worry to disbelief. Finally he held it out to her, seemingly not entirely sure what he’d just read.

“That makes no sense,”Sinara said once she’d read it for herself, and then read it again in case she was imagining things.

“No, I thought it didn’t.” Kasius took out a kerchief, almost absently wiping his brother’s blood from his face.“All forgiven so long as we bring him the Destroyer? That does not much sound like my father. I’d wager something’s happened since we’ve been exiled. Something big.”

Sinara nodded her agreement, already crossing over to Faulnak’s body. She knelt down beside him, ignoring the puddle of blood as she rifled through his pockets until she found what she was looking for. She had to get the blood of his thumb before the device would accept his print but then it sprang to life. She didn’t have to search long before she stumbled across their answer.“The factions are on the verge of mutiny. Your father wants the Destroyer to cow them into submission.”

“That would certainly explain it,”Kasius said. To her surprise, he was smiling now.“You know, I don’t think I much fancy bailing him out. What do you say, take everything that’s valuable and choose our own, new exile?”

“I’m in.” She found herself smiling, too, dropping Faulnak’s communicator carelessly as she straightened up.“If you can live without clothing shipments from the capital?”

“I hear good things about the style on Thaen,”he quipped, and pulled her into his arms for a kiss that left her breathless. 

* * *

They did not make it to Seren, forced to do an emergency landing after raiders had taken out two of their engines. They’d gotten away, but only barely.

“Third one’s about to blow,”Sinara warned, unstrapping herself from the pilot’s seat, swatting at the gleaming embers on her sleeve.

They watched their ship go up in flames from a safe distance, what little they had gathered in time clutched to them.

“Well, that went spectacularly wrong,”Kasius said with a heavy sigh.“At least it can only get better from here.”

Sinara jerked her head towards the advancing figures.“Tell that to them.”

There wasn’t enough time to run. There were a few more than she’d like to take on by herself, especially with a burned arm.

“Get rid of that jacket,”she told Kasius, and he slipped it off to stuff it into his satchel without hesitation or question.

There was nothing to be done about the make-up but at least he didn’t practically ooze nobility anymore.

The soldiers stopped a few feet from them, hands on the weapons in their holsters. They were a pale purple that made Sinara think of sickness, but which was perfectly normal for Carvidians. One of them called out,“Who are you?”

“Refugees,”Sinara called back, raising her hands in the universal gesture for ‘Don’t fucking shoot me’.“From Nux.”

They had gathered a little more information about the state of the empire from Faulnak’s data; her childhood home was apparently already tearing itself to shreds in a proxy war of the Halan elite.

The Carvidians seemed satisfied with that answer, waving them closer.“We’ve had quite a few of your lot coming in. Set you up emergency shelter. C’mon, we’ll get you settled in.”

* * *

The soldiers left them with a friendly, yet somewhat harried looking woman who flicked through her notes with a scowl.“We’re running out of beds. The Emperor’s lot could just tear themselves apart and let us be, you’d think, but apparently that’s too much to ask.”

“You’d think so, yes,”Sinara said when the woman paused, presumably expecting an answer, and Kasius offered none.

The Carvidian smiled.“I’ll need your names and status.”

“I’m Nara-Lhi,”Sinara said. There was no way of knowing whether anyone was bothering to keep a lookout for them, and even keeping a common name like hers was a risk not worth taking. She hesitated for a moment, the woman looking at them both expectantly.

Kasius brushed his fingers against hers, a subtle enough gesture, and a question at the same time. All his knowledge on Nux was theoretical or secondhand.

They’d worked out most of what they wanted their false identities to be but it was all tailored to a quiet life on Thaen, not a refugee camp on Carvid.

She made a decision, hoping Kasius would keep a straight face.“And this is my husband, Terkas. He doesn’t talk a lot.”

* * *

“Should I have told them something else?”Sinara asked as they were waiting for the nurse to return with their blood tests.

The Carvidian authorities were afraid of what the Nuxians might bring with them. Not unreasonably so, Sinara thought. She distinctly remembered long nights of coughing up blood, even if that was two decades ago now.

Kasius’ lips curved into a teasing smile.“Well, I wouldn’t have minded a proposal, now that you mention it. But other than that, I think it was the best thing to say. I mean, what else were you going to tell them?”

“Could’ve said you’re my brother,”she returned, and he wrinkled his nose in disgusts. She huffed.“What, I’m so lowborn it would be unthinkable to even pretend -”

“That’s not what I meant at all.” He laughed, genuinely baffled by her outburst. He leaned closer, a mere few inches between their lips.“It just would’ve made this very awkward for everyone involved.”

She wasn’t sure if he was serious and she didn’t have to decide because the nurse returned just then, rolling his eyes as they sprang apart like teenagers caught by their parents.

“If you’re about done with that,”he said, holding out a copy of their results for them.“All good. Head back to the frontdesk to get assigned sleeping quarters.”

“Sorry about that.” Kasius snatched the paper from his hand, winking at Sinara.“Newlyweds, you see.”

Now it was Sinara who rolled her eyes.

* * *

The bunk they were assigned was against a wall, giving them more privacy than most people in the hall were afforded. The beds came with lockers under them, and the Carvidian assured them they would not have to stay in the shelter long. By the snort from the woman a bunk over, that was far from the truth.

Once they’d been left to their own devices, others started coming by, some offering advice, some hoping for news on the war, some simply looking for a break from the monotony.

Sinara fell back into the Nuxian vernacular easily, answering questions as vaguely as she could get away with. The less lies they told, the less they could trip over them. Kasius barely spoke, and when he did he sounded painfully out of place.

“My grandmother served a viscountess in the capital,”he replied when a child demanded to know why.

Sinara leaned against him, smiling with a fondness she didn’t have to feign.“And then she taught him to talk all uppity.”

* * *

Sinara was relieved when they could finally retire to bed. She hadn’t been forced into this much socialisation in as long as she could remember, and she couldn’t even just glare at everyone until they let her be.

The relief quickly dissipated when she realised just how small the cot really was. It was near impossible for them to lay in it without touching. Kasius didn’t have much of a concept of personal space anyway but this was something else entirely.

As she settled close to the edge of the bed, she tried not to think about how he’d been joking earlier, or how he’d kissed her only a day ago. It hadn’t meant anything, and should certainly not send her heart stumbling the way it did. He’d just killed Faulnak; Sinara knew perfectly well how a good kill could make your blood boil.

She lay down with her back to Kasius, expecting him to perhaps start talking further strategy now that they had some semblance of privacy.

Instead he draped an arm across her waist, leaning in until his lips almost brushed her ear.“You're not selling this very well, wife.”

She chuckled to cover the way her breath hitched at that, shifting closer, doing her best to seem as it was perfectly normal for him to hold her like this.

* * *

Their second day in the shelter, Sinara slipped out at the crack of dawn and marched down to the docks. The ships loading and unloading could always use a helping hand, and gladly one that let them underpay her because she had no better prospects.

She returned late into the evening, with an offer to come back for more work the next day and feeling better about their whole situation. Once they got out of the temporary accommodations, Carvid wouldn’t be the worst place to stay, and not one the Emperor would think to search early on. If he was even in power long enough to try and find his wayward son.

She’d barely set foot into the sleeping quarters when Kasius was already there, grasping her hands in his.“You can’t just disappear like that! I was so worried.”

“I left you a note,”she said, awfully aware of a few people watching and giggling.

“Yes, it was very helpful. _Looking for work_ . Really cleared things up, that.” His voice dripped with sarcasm, but without his usual coat of make-up there was no hiding the blotches across his skin, telling the tale of his harried state. He sighed, letting go of her hand to instead brush a loose curl behind her ear.“Just - don’t do that again, alright?”

“Alright,”she said, and swallowed any joke at his expense. He was already upset enough as it was.“You worry too much, Kas.”

And then she brushed a kiss onto his cheek, because people were still watching, and it seemed the sort of thing a wife would do.

* * *

They were discussing how they might proceed in hushed voices, face to face on their little cot, his hand resting idly on her hip, her fingers absently following the path of freckles from his shoulder to his cheek.

For anyone glancing their way, they appeared to be exchanging sweet nothings, and not speculations on who had died in the ongoing riots back in the capital.

There was really nothing they could do but bide their time but Kasius talked in circles anyways, needing the distraction. The rather austere conditions were weighing on him more than whatever might have befallen his father’s faction.

Sinara was quite impressed with how little he complained so she let him ramble on each night. And anyway, it was nice, somehow, to just lay there and look at him.

Her thumb brushed across the slight welt that SHIELD girl’s knife had left, and he faltered mid-sentence.“Is it very hideous?”

“That little thing?” Even with no make-up covering it, it could barely even be called a scar at this point. She cocked her head to the side with a frown.“What of mine, then? Are they hideous?”

He laughed, perhaps taking her words for a joke. She was half-tempted to point out she had been serious when he already spoke,“As if anything about you could ever be anything less than stunning.”

* * *

Kasius was good with kids, and there was an abundance of bored children around the shelter so he quickly came to spend his time keeping them occupied while most of their parents and Sinara were out looking for odd jobs.

He wasn’t good with children the way most people meant it when they said it - he didn’t enjoy being around them, with their grubby hands and skinned knees, talking while they ate and wiping their noses on their sleeves - but he was a good storyteller, and had long learned to keep a pleasant facade in the face of those he disliked, and the kids gravitated to him, somehow.

It gave him something to do. It gave him information that fell from young lips that didn’t really know what they were saying, or was slipped to him by parents along with any coin or trinkets they could spare for the peace of mind of knowing their little ones were kept safe and entertained.

It gave him brightly flushed cheeks and a sudden stammer when a mother offered him the clothes her baby had just grown out of with a smile, and an off-handed,“Just in case you’ll have your own soon.”

“We’re not,”he started, looking to Sinara, who sat cross legged on the floor and firmly pretended not to have heard as she continued patching the hole in her shoe. With no help forthcoming, he turned back to the woman.“Now’s not the right time but thank you anyway.”

She shook her head a little, smile still on her face, and set the pile down despite his protests before she walked off.

He picked up the romper on top and pulled a face.“As if we’d dress our child in pastels.”

“What, so we’re having a baby now, after all?”Sinara teased, tilting her head to look up at him.“Should I start picking out names?”

“All in good time, Nara. We only just got married.” He leaned in and kissed her, something he did so often now she sometimes forgot it was for the benefit of whoever was watching.“But I can tell you now, we will never dress them in pastels.”

* * *

Sinara hadn’t been this exhausted since her early military days but she’d been offered as many shifts as she wanted and they needed the money. One of the families that used to leave their children with Kasius had saved up enough to leave the shelter and put a good word in for them with their landlord, who’d promised to hold his freshly-vacated studio for them for a fortnight so they could come up with a downpayment.

She stretched as she left the warehouse, turning towards the shelter only to stop dead in her tracks.“What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d walk you back,”Kasius said.“You were gone so long. I missed you.”

“I’ve been working this long every day for a week or so,”she reminded him, taking his proffered hand nonetheless.

“I know, and I missed you every day for a week.”

She rolled her eyes as they walked along.“I was going to come back now anyway. It’s a forty minute walk, Kas.”

“Forty minutes I get to see you sooner,”he returned.“Any second with you is precious.”

“You’re insufferably cheesy,”she said, glad her cheeks were already flushed from the heat in the warehouse.

“Should have thought of that before you married me,”he said as he lightly bumped his shoulder against hers.

She only laughed, intertwining their fingers more comfortably.

* * *

“Bigger bed,”Kasius pointed out.

It wasn’t the first thing Sinara herself had noticed about the cramped studio, nor the first thing she’d expected him to comment on when the curtains were a pattern even she could identify as utterly hideous and clashing with the sofa cover.

She was already wondering whether that sofa was long enough to sleep on at least somewhat comfortably when she registered the spark in Kasius’ eyes.

“And no audience,”he added, very pointedly.

Clearly he intended to keep up the farce even away from prying eyes, and she was more than happy to oblige.

(He called her Sinara, just for that night, because Terkas and Nara-Lhi already had everything else, and this belonged to Kasius and Sinara.)

* * *

The familiar scent hit Sinara as they were unloading the boxes meant for one of the luxury boutiques in the city centre.

“How much for one of them?”she asked the overseer. A bit of cargo always went astray, some way or another.

The price he named was not unreasonable for what it would garner in stores but would still mean she’d skip lunch the next few days. Well, she’d gone longer with less food.

They shook on it and she spent the rest of her shift with the little box tucked safely away in the inside pocket of her jacket.

Kasius looked at her as if she’d announced she’d singlehandedly ended the Halan civil war when she handed him the lotion.“That’s much too expensive.”

“I like your hands that soft,”she said simply.  It was easier than to admit she'd done it for that smile of his.

* * *

Calling him her husband was much easier than Sinara had ever anticipated. It worried her, some days, just how much she liked this little charade of theirs.

But when she heard a merchant on the docks complaining about something odd in his books, she didn’t think twice before saying,“My husband’s good with numbers. He’ll take a look, if you want.”

The employee that had been fudging the reports lost his job and a couple of teeth, and Kasius started earning enough that he could stop tutoring anyone besides the children he deemed promising, and Sinara only worked single shifts from then on.

They even started keeping an eye out for better accommodations.

* * *

“Apparently they’re looking for that princeling what disappeared.”

Sinara froze, turning to her coworkers.“What did you just say?”

They were happy to share the gossip, oblivious to her tense shoulders.“War’s done, they say. And the new Emperor wants the prince. Kasius, wasn’t it? Guess they want the bloodline over with. Told them if anyone knows anything it’s Vhrina-”

Sinara dropped everything without another word. Vhrina would know nothing of Prince Kasius. Vhrina only knew Terkas, who kept her shop and did her books.

They were leading him down the street by the time she made it, four soldiers flanking him. Sinara hadn’t carried a weapon in months, had grown too complacent, stupidly neglecting her duties as his guard to play at being his wife instead.

She cursed, then doing the only thing she could do.

“Kasius!”

The name hadn’t left her lips in a long while, had been whispered against his skin last she’d said it. Now it was as if she’d set off a bomb, the soldiers wheeling around to stare at her.

“Who’s this, then?”their leader asked, fingers a firm grip on Kasius’ arm.

“I don’t know,”Kasius said, eyes pleading with Sinara not to contradict him.“Never seen her in my life.”

“She knows your name,”the soldier pointed out.“How’s that, then?”

“I don’t know,”Kasius repeated.

Sinara jutted her chin forward, defiant of both Kasius and the soldiers.“I’m his wife. That’s who I am.”

As expected, that made them bring her along.

* * *

They weren’t kept in a cell, which was very odd. The soldiers had locked them in a perfectly normal room, though they had taken away anything even remotely sharp or heavy. They hadn't told them who sat the throne now, either, and Kasius was refusing to talk about it.

“That was so stupid of you,”he said instead, his hand shaking as he placed it onto hers.“You should’ve just ran. Now they’ll kill you with me.”

She took his hand in both of hers, dropping her head against his shoulder.“Well, til death do us apart, and all that.”

“Those are Terran vows,”he said and rested his head on hers, face turned into her hair.“And we never said vows, anyway.”

“Do you want to?”

She didn’t know what had possessed her to ask that. She didn’t regret it, as that got him to laugh.“There’s that proposal you owed me. Finally.”

They arrived in the capital not long after they’d finished promising each other things that ought to be true for longer than however long it was until their execution.

* * *

There was a young woman on the throne, wearing the crown Sinara had last seen on the head of Kasius’ father as he had sentenced them to exile.

Kasius didn’t spare a glance for the crown, eyes only for the woman wearing it, hurrying forward to embrace her.

Sinara did her best to ignore the stinging in her chest as the new Emperor laughed as he twirled her around. She tried to focus instead on the fact that their execution seemed rather unlikely. She tried not to examine the thought that she’d have prefered execution.

“Clio, I can’t believe it,”Kasius said when he’d set her down again.“I thought you never wanted the throne?”

“Not when the prerequisite was marrying Faulnak.” Clio shrugged. It was annoyingly elegant, the way her curls moved in a tumble down her shoulders, just the sort of woman Kasius should actually marry.“I was never opposed to ruling. So sorry, my darling, but I’m not offering you the throne back. I simply need an adviser, and I heard rumours you might still be alive.”

Sinara relaxed a little at mention of him becoming an adviser.

Clio looked over to her, then back to Kasius.“You’re being rude, Kassie. Introduce us.”

“This is Sinara,”Kasius said, turning to gesture her closer with a smile.

It had been a long time since she had been Sinara. She steeled herself for what he would say next, what she would return to being. _My guard._

The marriage had been for exile. The vows had been for when they’d been going to their deaths.

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him as she stepped to his side. Whatever else, that was where she belonged.

Kasius wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer and pressing a kiss to her temple.“She’s my wife.”

 

(Their children inherited no crowns but they never wore pastels, either.)


End file.
